Detacheering was the system by which Dutch garrisons in the outposts of Groot-Atjeh were rotated, normally for a period of fourteen days, after which the men returned to Kota Radja.
Duration and pay
G. B. Hooijer recorded that soldiers at Lam Koenjit ran together at the daily arrival of the provision cart and letters to hear news of friends and comrades from whom they were separated voor veertien dagen, den duur der detacheering. At Toengkoeb, pay accumulated without any occasion to spend it, en gaf een aardig sommetje als men, na ommekomst van de detacheering, in Kota Radja werd uitbetaald — and yielded a pretty sum when, on the expiry of the detachment, it was paid out at Kota Radja.
Voluntary extension
Despite the monotony within the walls of Toengkoeb, many soldiers chose to remain longer than the prescribed fourteen days, because life there was so easy: patrols went only to neighbouring posts, only two of the four watch-houses were manned by day, no duties beyond mounting guard were ordered, and the greatest freedom in dress was permitted.
The order of March 1896
Hooijer recorded that at the beginning of 1896 the commandant of Anagaloeng received the instruction to make a patrol through the surroundings vóór zijn detachement door een ander werd vervangen — before his detachment was replaced by another. That order produced the mauled patrol of Kapitein Blokland on 7 March 1896.
See Also
Source
De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 18, 26, 50.